Steve, there were a couple of things that you said which are concerning, however if what you said here is is true;
“Qantas Engineers in Bne were working in the landing gear bay and noticed the crack. They reported it. The manager went off his tree at them for seeking defects they weren't asked to look for”.
Then there are some serious issues with the carrier. That is downright frightening. That particular Supervisors comment flows against the grain of ‘safety’ and is as low as you can get. A willingness to overlook a crack, a potentially serious safety issue, because the crack wasn’t on a prior checklist??? WTF!! Is this really the type of lowball unsafe culture that the CEO and Board are striving for? I know this may sound amusing but ‘where might CASA be’? They would be crapping themselves, not because of the risk to passenger safety (the Regulators number one priority apparently), but because they are scared of Qantas and are adverse to touching the protected Roo due to a fear of upsetting the nations politicians.
There are so many very serious questions to be asked about this. I really hope that the media run with this story and that the ‘24 million dollar man’ is finally dragged out from under his rock and exposed for what he has turned the airline into - a money making entity for management only. What a disgrace.